Round 2: Pens vs. Craps
- Thread starter DocEER
- Start date
You know the Pens shot their wad in game 5. No legs tonight. Signing off for the night. Kessel sucks.
With as poorly as the Pens defense played this series, I'll be curious to see if Jacques Martin becomes the ceremonial sacrifice (which would be a chicken shit thing to do, in my estimation).
I’m honestly not upset. Our blue line play was ass. They were short handed and we still played most of the time in our zone. Crossing the line was like trying to escape from North Korea.
Losing to them....after this LONG run we've all had...thats what stings. They just didn't have it...we all saw it. Although I had hope based on past performance still with our gamers...just willing them to show. Heading out to the front of the house now to take the Pens flag down, in May? It cannot see daylight tomorrow...that Black and Gold is used to flyin OT over the last few years...THANK YOU Pittsburgh Penguins. Still proud but time to go....
It was painful to watch....and cue the MAF brigade to inform everyone how we shoulda kept him...newsflash, with this D? It's over just the same....arrggghh....
A 2-year run with that flag is pretty fair, and I've got to take down my avatar...... though not until a new champ is crowned.
There she WAS....funny story...nieghbour up the street walkin by a couple weeks ago. 'You never take that flag down till well into summer do you?'....NOPE! Well....every once in awhile I guess I do...
Time for a Newf dog in some WV gear for my avatar lol...I was looking forward to fall and the opener...moreso now...
Some script from a random post I came across that made me think just a bit this eve...
'
9 straight playoff wins, 2 Stanley Cups, promoting your Stanley Cups, traveling, practicing, being a great parent/spouse, flying home to other Countries, (with such limited time off.)
Visiting hospitals and hosting charity events. Recovering from surgeries and injuries. Wow I can't even imagine how completely out of fuel your minds and bodies must be, but, you just kept going all season long at full tilt, and I couldn't be more proud of every single one of you.
Thank you for all of your hard work and letting us celebrate in back- 2- back years. Unbelievable!!! And thank you, for how much you do for others. You're all incredible human beings, and you're all Champions!
Have a safe summer, and take a well-earned rest and go out and enjoy yourselves.
We love you, Pittsburgh Penguins. ❣️'
This was a GREAT ride! Over and out....
'
9 straight playoff wins, 2 Stanley Cups, promoting your Stanley Cups, traveling, practicing, being a great parent/spouse, flying home to other Countries, (with such limited time off.)
Visiting hospitals and hosting charity events. Recovering from surgeries and injuries. Wow I can't even imagine how completely out of fuel your minds and bodies must be, but, you just kept going all season long at full tilt, and I couldn't be more proud of every single one of you.
Thank you for all of your hard work and letting us celebrate in back- 2- back years. Unbelievable!!! And thank you, for how much you do for others. You're all incredible human beings, and you're all Champions!
Have a safe summer, and take a well-earned rest and go out and enjoy yourselves.
We love you, Pittsburgh Penguins. ❣️'
This was a GREAT ride! Over and out....
Congrats on a 2 year run. Not and easy task in the salary cap era. Not sure what the pens cap situation is but if they can rebuild the blue line maybe they can get back there. Hockey is toughest sport to watch when you have emotional investment. When you go to overtime with the season online you have no idea when you will win or lose. Its pin and needles and no other sport has it like the NHL. I thought my preds were done for sure after saturday they laid and egg and tonight they played a great game. Now i have to go through this emotional roller coaster for another 3 days. I have no confidence in the Preds they have been inconsistant all post season. I will probably end up with an ulcer. I wish the true preds would reveal themselves. I would have been pissed if they lost tonight but would have gotten over it after a couple of days. For now the days and nights of sweatin balls continues for me.
Thanks much...yep it's emotional alright! We wanted 3 after being spoiled back to back...yep there will be some cap space there likely, in order to reload a bit and hopefully it is used on the back end.
Preds , especially Renne and Forsberg looked very good last night! Jets are talented but still fairly young, series has been up and down, not sure what to expect other than a damn good hockey game...
The big problem is outside of game 2 each games winner has been pretty much known way before the final horn.
Toronto Do like any of the Canadian teams in the NHL? I know you don't like the Leafs and you kinda made it sound you weren't into the Jets either. I always Kinda liked Vancouver that was my canadian team. Do you have any or just like playing the part of the Villain.
Well, Fleury is the top goalie in the playoffs by far at .951 and five shutouts in 10 games ... but you're not wrong to wonder how he'd have fared with those Keystone Kops masquerading as Pens' defensemen in front of him.
Lots of criticism of the defense this year but to be honest it really was the Letang pairing (no matter who he was with) that was substandard all year. I watched that game winner 5 times. Ignoring the fact that Sid mishandled a perfect pass at the blue line again for the billionth time, both Letang and Dumo swung way wide after the fateful pass. Letang actually looked as if may have been heading for a change. I have zero idea what Dumo was up to. Nevertheless the Red Sea parted and the Caps won.
But looking at the defense corp in the playoffs, Ruhewedel, Oleksiak, and Schultz were solid to very good. Dumo was generally very good. Maatta was his usual bi-polar self but actually played well the later half of the Caps series I thought.
I don't know but when they picked up Brassard I said they got the wrong guy from Ottawa -- I wish they'd have gone all in for Erik Karlsson.
Not that it matters now but what do you all think about Sid last night? For a guy that IMO was the best player in the playoffs thru 11 games, he wasn't engaged from the beginning. I noticed the little things all game like him not busting his butt to get to pucks. Watch the Letang goal and the prior faceoff where he wins both and never moves. He has one shot and that was a deflection. Not sure if it was fatigue or what but he had been amazing before last night.
I didn't like the Brassard deal because they gave up a solid defenseman and a character guy in Reaves, who by the way was fantastic for Vegas the other night. Then Brassard does nothing..... In hindsight, a puck moving defenseman would have been very nice if even as a rental
I have no intention of blasting the guy.....at least anymore than the comment I made (during the game) in saying he was a no-show. His problem is that he does so many good things on those occasions when he's dialed-in that he looks just awful by comparison on those nights when he's not.
Aside whatever it is anyone still thinks Danny Sprong can deliver (and when), I don't believe they have anyone on the farm currently considered to have any kind of honest NHL potential at any position. That's not to say some players can't (or won't) develop.....and that's not to say someone like ZAR might not develop into a decent NHL'er if he recovers from his current injuries.
But let's be honest; this team has only made one 1st Round pick in the last 5 years.....Kasperi Kapanen......and they don't have one this year (traded to Ottawa for Brassard). You can only strike oil and gold on the Shearys and Rusts and Guentzels (and ZAR's) for so long until that pipeline eventually dries up.
Said another way......if this team is going to make another Cup run next season.....it's going to be with this roster. Maybe GMJR moves the 2019 1st rounder for somebody; but at some point, even he realizes you can't continue to sacrifice top picks for short term fixes.
Of course, once he acknowledges/recognizes that the days of honest Cup contention are finally (and officially) done.....which might be one more season, max......that's when he'll finally bail Pittsburgh and leave the rebuild full-time to (presumably) Guerin.
FWIW....and since the 2017/18 team will probably be viewed generally to have underachieved.....I think there's at least a chance he retires this summer. I mean, with three Cups already to his credit, why would he want/need to hang around anywhere and take guff from anyone (for any reason).
Not that I don't enjoy the Cup wins..but these losses sort of stick with me.
I am not blasting him I have done enough of that in the past. But he was noticably different last night than in any other game of these playoffs.
I am not blasting him I have done enough of that in the past. But he was noticably different last night than in any other game of these playoffs.
Let's be honest about something else......aside whatever defensive issues on which we've all been borderline obssessed.....this team probably still wins the series with any kind of secondary scoring (which was a key ingredient in both Cup wins) and/or if Murray matches Holtby's performance. Of course, all the shortfalls count; not just the ones on which we prefer to focus.
In other words, can we generally agree this series loss was actually a fairly widespread team effort ??
In other words, can we generally agree this series loss was actually a fairly widespread team effort ??
I think this current roster can play for the Cup 1 maybe 2 more years. That is assuming that Letang regains his form and the "stars" of the team once again buy into Sullivan's system.
I'll never forget what Phil Bourque once said about Max Talbot's exit from the NHL. He said Max got away from the game that got him to where he was. He tried to do things he couldn't do. I saw that this year in Sheary particularly. Last night we clearly saw Rust passing up shots to make the spectacular play. Kessel has fallen in love with the pass vs using his great shot. And why he suddenly thought he could stick handle like Sid is surely puzzling. On the team side, Sullivan stresses making the other team go 200 feet to beat you. We saw too many times this year where the Pens were careless with the puck in the neutral zone. It cost them dearly in the Caps series.
I really do think that a disciplined Pens team can win the Cup again with the current roster.....as long they buy in one more time.
I posted a few days ago that I thought this team could win the cup with any secondary scoring. I still believe that. But you can't win the Cup with average goal tending. We clearly saw average goal tending too. So you are correct
You can win the Cup with average goaltending, if you get the scoring to cover for it. In the last two playoffs, every.single.line was a threat to score, at even strength and on the power play. This year the Pens were a one line show:
https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/pittsburgh-penguins/line-combinations/stats/
I too was disappointed with Brassard’s play but Sully did him no favors putting him on the 4th line. I mean if we wanted a 4th line C we have Rowney. I would have loved to see Brass playing on Sid or Geno’s wing. I mean how can you expect Brass to do anything playing with dead weight? I think Sully did a poor job managing his lines. Of course it’s difficult when no one is producing. I’m just so aggravated and pissed off still. This series was there for the taking and the Pens chose not to take it.
When the pens picked up Brassard at the deadline I was surprised. Everyone that watched this team knew the biggest weakness was on the Blue Line. I think the move was more about trying to mask weaknesses. You always find out how bad your weaknesses are at playoff time. The pens D core needs a Major rebuild Im not sure if adding a D man at the Deadline would have helped all that much. At the 10 minute mark of the 2nd period of game 4 the pens had give up 22 odd man rushes. Not sure what the final total was after game 6. At least the management knows what the major problem is.
Brassard is a center, not a winger, so he could hardly play with Sid or Geno since they're both centers too. But the Pens had a problem of line combinations all year, and in fact Sullivan was juggling people between periods last night -- Hornqvist ended up on the top line, with Simon demoted to the third line and Kessel back with Malkin on the second line. And it almost worked, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Depends on who they got. As I said, Erick Karlsson was available. Hell, they could have brought in Mike Green from Detroit for one year, he's a UFA after this season.
Well ...I was originally a Leaves fan instilled from parents. Till the day 66 was drafted way back, that changed it for me immediate. Although I still did follow Toronto afterward for awhile as a defacto second team and did like a good many of their players (Gilmour, Sundin), the day they hired Jerkie Burkie I honestly laughed and said done no need to even bother with them anymore period. I understand the civic pride associated with pro sport as it lifts a city up quite a bit when doing well, but really it doesn't do much for me....in saying that I do truly love the Burgh an awful lot, and obviously Motown and the state of WV. Gameday experience in both towns for Hockey and Football are imo off the charts great...so much so that I am now a season ticket holder for the EERS over the last 5 or 6 years and make at least a few trips down to see the Pens yearly too.
As for the Jets I think they are a dirty hockey team...same traditional ilk of the Cryers/Bruins/Blojax...not my kind of game. Tough yes, but dirtball antics or any antics for that matter no. Let the skill dictate and drop the gloves if you've got an issue...
If I had to choose I think it would be the Canucks, as I have several relatives out there, and pull for em. Second maybe Ottawa as several relatives there and also close friends with a friend in that organization...asst GM Randy Lee.
I really don't get the bring the cup back to Canada if your team is eliminated mentality either to be honest. There are plenty of Canadians on the Pens and other teams stateside. And I obviously root vigorously for Canada on the international hockey stage...although I don't really care where my Pens come from so long as they WIN....Anyway enough of my rambling lol...good luck on Thursday!
Ok.....my 2 cents which is about what it's worth...and don't worry there will be more hand wringing from me over the next few days I'm sure....
I actually agreed with and looked forward to seeing Brass in a Pens uniform, as he had been a real performer in the past....well ....mistake on the whole. Not sure if the injury sustained by him back in March had anything to do with it or not.
Kessel and Geno were imo MIA in this series, cant have that from 2 of your top gunners, whether they were suffering lagging injury or not.
Our secondary scoring was abysmal. Where the hell were Rusty and Sheary?
Defense...or lack of it, one name Letang. I re watched several of his numerous gaffes today and my stomach was churning. He was simply awful. I felt sorry for Dumo in being paired with him. Honourary mention to Olli, his shot to my eyes is actually getting worse, and he's guilty of too many brain cramps for a guy of his tenure now, and ability. Schultzie? SOLID, but wishing for another goal or 2 out of him...
Murray, good enough in the last two games to win em (especially last night after the one softie along the post which drove me bonkers), yet not good enough in the earlier games in the series that they lost. He has to be better...I am hopeful GMJR can aquire a vet to actually PUSH him for net time, as I feel this would help. He always had Flower lookin over his shoulder till this season.
I thought the coaching was adequate and Sully's hand was pretty forced at times with these guys by the looks of it pretty banged up, and out of gas after almost 3 years of consistent hockey, that obviously wore on em...
As per last night and them having no Backstrom? Well you simply have to win that game, with their #1 C out don't ya? Otherwise you just aren't good enough period.
Hoping with a bit of cap space through departing free agents, that GMJR can latch onto a decent 3-4 type D man that can move the puck, and ZAR and another rook or 2 from WB/S can inject some of the energy needed on those 3rd /4th lines...
Oh...and of course the Captain. He looked very good imo all playoff, notwithstanding last night...he just looked tired pretty much all night, and made one or 2 giveaways which really is nothing new. Ya take the good with the bad when you've got Sid, and the GOOD WAY OUTWEIGHS THE BAD.
Oh...also Horndog, he was his usual tenacious self with the odd goal ,kudos to him as always.
A great run ended, by a better team this juncture...not over it for awhile, but understand...
EDIT: My bad...Jake....an assasin out there...he is a gift from the gods to a team that's gonna need that youthful and clutch jam over the next few years...ok over and out.
I actually agreed with and looked forward to seeing Brass in a Pens uniform, as he had been a real performer in the past....well ....mistake on the whole. Not sure if the injury sustained by him back in March had anything to do with it or not.
Kessel and Geno were imo MIA in this series, cant have that from 2 of your top gunners, whether they were suffering lagging injury or not.
Our secondary scoring was abysmal. Where the hell were Rusty and Sheary?
Defense...or lack of it, one name Letang. I re watched several of his numerous gaffes today and my stomach was churning. He was simply awful. I felt sorry for Dumo in being paired with him. Honourary mention to Olli, his shot to my eyes is actually getting worse, and he's guilty of too many brain cramps for a guy of his tenure now, and ability. Schultzie? SOLID, but wishing for another goal or 2 out of him...
Murray, good enough in the last two games to win em (especially last night after the one softie along the post which drove me bonkers), yet not good enough in the earlier games in the series that they lost. He has to be better...I am hopeful GMJR can aquire a vet to actually PUSH him for net time, as I feel this would help. He always had Flower lookin over his shoulder till this season.
I thought the coaching was adequate and Sully's hand was pretty forced at times with these guys by the looks of it pretty banged up, and out of gas after almost 3 years of consistent hockey, that obviously wore on em...
As per last night and them having no Backstrom? Well you simply have to win that game, with their #1 C out don't ya? Otherwise you just aren't good enough period.
Hoping with a bit of cap space through departing free agents, that GMJR can latch onto a decent 3-4 type D man that can move the puck, and ZAR and another rook or 2 from WB/S can inject some of the energy needed on those 3rd /4th lines...
Oh...and of course the Captain. He looked very good imo all playoff, notwithstanding last night...he just looked tired pretty much all night, and made one or 2 giveaways which really is nothing new. Ya take the good with the bad when you've got Sid, and the GOOD WAY OUTWEIGHS THE BAD.
Oh...also Horndog, he was his usual tenacious self with the odd goal ,kudos to him as always.
A great run ended, by a better team this juncture...not over it for awhile, but understand...
EDIT: My bad...Jake....an assasin out there...he is a gift from the gods to a team that's gonna need that youthful and clutch jam over the next few years...ok over and out.
Last edited:
Those guys definitely would have helped but the pens need a major rebuild on the blue line. They probably need 3 solid D man to get back in contention. To say the D was bad is and understatement they were flat out awfu. How many odd man rushes did they give during the playoffs? I know at the 10 minute mark of 2nd period they had given up a total of 22 odd man rushes in the caps series. Not sure what the final tally was but the series ended on a break away right up the gut. Even in the flyers series the pens D was getting exposed.
